Seymour Simon's Blog, page 66

This entry explains a favorite topic of Seymour's - how to write your address as a citizen of the Universe!I was recently in San Angelo, Texas, where it was cold and raining and everyone was very happy about the weather. When you live in a drought-prone area like West Texas, I can understand why rain is a welcome event!We (my wife Liz Nealon went with me) discovered that although San Angelo is a rather small city, there is a lot to see there. We visited the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, which is a gorgeous building with a permanent ceramics and silver collection that we enjoyed very much. We had lunch in historic San Angelo, at a restaurant called Miss Hattie's Saloon, which had…let's call it a "colorful" history in bygone days! And, we visited Fort Concho, where Pecos Bill was once the commander. The fort is a National Historic Landmark because it was the the home of the Buffalo Soldiers who were part of the 10th Cavalry, one of the two all-Black cavalry regiments who protected the Great Plains in the mid-1800s.I was in San Angelo to speak at the 8th Annual Literacy Conference, held at Angelo State University. While I was there, I also spoke to a number of large groups of kids from the public schools in San Angelo. Here is a picture of me with a group of students from Holiman Elementary.The kids were all bright, eager, and very smart. I told each group a story that is in one of my early books, THE LONG VIEW INTO SPACE, about the way I started writing my return address when I was their age. Here's how I did it.NameStreet AddressCityStateZip CodePlanet EarthSolar SystemThe Milky Way GalaxyThe UniverseYears ago, when this book first came out, I was on my way to visit a school in Ohio. I got a letter from a fifth grade boy who had been looking at this address, and told me that I forgot to put down the zip code for the universe. I asked the kids in San Angelo if they could guess what he thought the zip code for the universe should be. A student came up with the answer in every group I spoke to. They suggested that the zip code for the Universe should be ∞ - the symbol for infinity.Try writing your complete address. You are truly a citizen of the universe (and make sure to include its zip code).

This year saw many changes at NASA, which Seymour wrote about in early May.Many of us were dismayed when President Obama recently announced cuts to NASA's budget. Although everyone understands the need for austerity in these troubled economic times, I am always in favor of invention and exploration - one of the best attributes of American culture. This Friday, the space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to make its final launch, undertaking a 12-day mission to the International Space Station to replace solar panel batteries, install a backup antenna and attach a Russian module filled with supplies. After the Atlantis mission, the other two shuttles - Discovery and Endeavour - are each going to make one more flight, and then all three will be retired. Maybe it's because I was an impressionable 8 years old when President Kennedy gave his stirring "We will go to the moon….." speech. Or because I used to set my alarm to get up and watch the shuttle launch when my friend, Navy Captain and astronaut Dan Bursch flew one of his four missions. Danny shares the U.S. space endurance record with astronaut Carl Walz - 196 days in space! (his kids still remember this milestone because he missed Christmas and several birthdays - even an astronaut is still just "Dad" when he gets home). So, despite its flaws, limitations, and several tragedies, I felt very sad when I heard the Shuttle program was being discontinued. The good news, reported in today's Science Times, is that we're continuing to train astronauts for exploration of other planets…..we're just not doing it in space! Yesterday marked the beginning of the 14th NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission. A crew of six, led by Col. Chris A. Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut who flew two shuttle missions, descended 65 feet to an underwater laboratory off the coast of Florida, where they will practice the skills required for setting up a habitat on another planet. By adjusting the buoyancy of the diving suits, the aquanauts can go about their work feeling as if they are walking in the one-sixth gravity of the Moon or the three-eighths gravity of Mars. And, they have set up a 20-minute time lag in communications with their mission controllers on the surface, just as they would have if they were trying to get advice or help in solving a big problem while on Mars. Click here to read the entire story about how these aquanauts are developing the skills we will need for future space exploration. It's not over yet! Photo: NEEMO 13, courtesy NASA

Seymour makes a new "friend" in today's entry. Merry Christmas, everyone!People often ask me if I personally shoot all the photographs in my photo-essay books, sinceboth words and images are so important in telling the story. The answer is that although I use my own photographs whenever I can, often the subject matter demands photographs that can only be had from specialists. For example, books like PENGUINS or the forthcoming BUTTERFLIES include photos by professionals who have literally spent years observing and photographing these animals. Part of what I do when I'm writing a book is photo research - scouring the archives to find photographs that I believe will best illuminate and in many cases expand on the text. Sometimes, if I find a photograph that is interesting enough, I will even rewrite the page to go with the photograph. It is a fluid process, writing and doing photo research, and one that I really enjoy.I do, however, photograph nature and animals often….pretty much every week I find one day when I can get away from my desk and spend time in the outdoors with my camera. We recently visited an alpaca farm in Columbia County, NY, and I found these animals to be irresistibly photogenic. The bangs hanging over their eyes certainly enhance what are already quirky, expressive faces! We often are tempted to assign human emotions to animals…..like thinking that this little guy is looking at me quizzically. The fact of the matter is, when you get close to an alpaca, it often summons up green liquid (from chewing its cud) to spit at you. Spitting is how they stake out their territory, as well as reinforce the pecking order in the herd. Unfortunately, when an alpaca is sucking on partially digested grass, he often gets a bad case of sour mouth. So, although I'd like to tell you a lovely story about how this young cria (pronounced"cree-ah," the Spanish word for baby alpaca, commonly used among English-speaking breeders, too) and I established a wonderful relationship, the truth is he was just letting me know I was getting too close to his territory!

Between now and the New Year, we are going to re-run 2010’s Top Ten postings from the Seymour Science blog so that we can share some of this year's best writing with our newer readers. Today's entry is a column in which Seymour talks about how he decides what to write.DINOSAURS, GALAXIES AND TRAINSPeople often ask me how I choose the subjects for my books. Titles come about in all sorts of ways.Sometimes it is simply a topic that I am very passionate about (hence all my books about Space and exploring our universe - this has been a fascination for me since I was a little kid). At other times, my editor and I decide what is needed to "fill out" an existing series. For example, my recent Collins/Smithsonian books have been dealing with environmental topics like Global Warming and Tropical Rainforests, and now I'm just beginning research on a third topic for that environmental strand, about Coral Reefs.Often, I will decide to do a book simply because it is on a topic that I know kids will love. I've just finished up a new book with my good friend, the illustrator Dennis Kendrick. It's called Silly Dinosaur Riddles, and it hits two enduring hot spots for elementary-aged kids—they love dinosaurs, and they love to tell jokes and riddles! So, deciding on that topic was easy, and we're delighted with the way that it came out. It's also going to be my first original eBook - designed to read on a smartphone, an iPad, or any other tablet reader. More and more schools and libraries are buying these devices to use with kids, and I'm excited to be creating books that children can read on one of these new readers.Back in 2002, I wrote two books that I knew my young grandsons would love—Seymour Simon's Book of Trucks, and Seymour Simon's Book of Trains. One of the very nice things about writing for children is that books have long lives. Every three or four years, you get a new crop of kids who grow into the topic or reading level, and fall in love with your book all over again.That happened this week with my Book of Trains, when I discovered this lovely review by Frances Loving, a librarian who writes a thoughtful blog called Quiet Ramblings. The book may be almost ten years old, but it's clearly still relevant for her students! Click here to read her review.I always like to hear from readers, parents and teachers. If there is a topic that you'd like to see me cover, drop me a note here and let me know!

Between now and the New Year, we are going to re-run 2010’s Top Ten postings from the Seymour Science blog. We have so many new readers, we want to share some of this year's best writing. We’re starting off with a favorite in which Seymour writes directly to kids about wanting to become a writer.DEVELOPING YOUNG WRITERSHere is an excerpt from a lovely note and photograph that I've received from Renonia West, the librarian in Miles, Texas. We met when I spoke down there in February.I am the librarian in Miles, Texas. I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed listening to you at the Literacy Conference in San Angelo. I came back to school and made up a center featuring your books, with pictures. The kids loved all the stories that you told about flying the paper airplanes out of the window in New York, and your going up in the plane in Alaska.I have really been encouraging all the kids to write and be authors, so I told them about you writing your first book about space aliens, in elementary school. Also they were thrilled to see your autograph in two of our books that I brought for you to sign. The kids have really been reading your books especially the "Hidden Worlds" book. I hope you enjoyed your extra day in San Angelo. We actually had some snow here on Tuesday!I love it that Ms. West is encouraging all her readers to be writers, as well. My "first book" that she refers to was indeed titled SPACE MONSTERS, and I wrote it when I was in second grade.If you want to be a writer, the most important thing to do is write as often you can. Just as athletes begin playing sports when they are kids and grow into professional athletes, writers also begin writing when they are kids and grow into professional writers. If you want to be an Olympic hockey player someday, you join a team and start going to practice early every morning. If you want to be a writer, get yourself a blank notebook and start writing every day. And you don't have to get up at 4am to do it!

I never quite seem to finish my fall cleanup in the garden. One thing leads to another, and suddenly there is snow on the ground with broken stems and brown leaves poking through. I used to feel guilty about it, but a number of years ago I came to embrace the winter garden, even throwing some Christmas lights on a bean trellis that never made it into the barn for the winter! Of course, you should remove any foliage that has scabs, fungus or other evidence of disease in the autumn. But leave some of the rest so that birds have a place to forage for food, and you will enjoy a winter of bird watching as part of the bargain. Beneficial insects such as ground beetles, centipedes, millipedes, pill bugs and spiders will also crawl inside leaf piles or dead stalks in order to survive the cold, wet months. Garden spiders, which catch mosquitoes and other harmful insects, often overwinter as eggs. Keep them around by providing safe hiding places for their egg sacks. All of these creatures are our gardening partners, breaking down and adding organics to the soil. Best of all, I love the architectural quality of the brown, dry stalks, and they look great covered in frost or spider webs. When you finally cut everything back in spring, be sure to leave them in a stack until May to allow all of the overwintering insects to emerge. I love having a garden, and it has its own special charm in the winter months.

Just ten days left to send us a video of YOU being the very best gorilla you can be! It doesn't have to be fancy - use your webcam or your cell phone, and video yourself imitating gorilla behavior. You can read Seymour's GORILLAS book for ideas. The deadline for entries is December 31st, so don't delay. Grand Prize winner gets a free Seymour Simon Skype session with your class, and the top videos will be featured for all to see on SeymourSimon.com.Click here for details on how to enter. Come on - show us your inner gorilla!

Nothing like setting your alarm for 3:10 am, only to discover that the skies were too overcast to see last night's full lunar eclipse. We heard this from friends right across the U.S., unfortunately.The good news is that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has posted hundreds of great photos - click here if you'd like to see more (SeeMore - get it? haha).

I love to photograph at this time of the year. The sun never rises high in the sky, and even in the middle of the afternoon, the fields are bathed in long, purple shadows. The Native American people call the December moon the "Long Night Moon." A child might think that the longest night of the year is dark and quiet, both animals and plants resting and still. But even on the longest night, the winter solstice, life goes on all around us. I've been tinkering with an idea for a book called THE LONGEST NIGHT. I like the idea of writing about the simple science behind the poetry and beauty of the longest night of the year. Snow crystals dance in the air and settle slowly down on the ground…starlings and nuthatches feed at the bird feeder in the last bit of twilight…a red fox moves through the moonlit night…the full moon reflects on the snow, making it seem as though all the world glistening. It might start something like this: What do you think? Is this a book you would like to read with your family?

We have nearly reached the longest night of the year here in the northern hemisphere. Tomorrow night, December 21 (or December 22 in some years), known as the "winter solstice," is also the day we consider to be the official beginning of winter. Solstice means"the sun stands still," and thewintersolsticeis the day when the midday sun is at its lowest point above the horizon. It seems to hover there, never rising very high in the sky, and then sets again - hence the idea that the sun is "standing still." This happens because Earth is tilted on its axis in such a way that the northern hemisphere is pointing farther away from the sun than at any other time of the year. This year's "longest night" will be an even darker night than usual during a full moon (at least for some hours), because the arrival of the winter solstice coincides with a full eclipse of the moon in the early hours of December 21 (late tonight). And this lunar eclipse is going to be a beauty - visible to everyone in Northern and Central America (if the skies are clear and the weather cooperates). Do you know what happens during a lunar eclipse? Think about it. We see the full moon shining brightly in the sky because it is illuminated by the sun. What we call "moonlight" is really just sunlight reflected back at us from the moon. So, what would cause the full moon to suddenly go dark? It could only happen if the sunlight were cut off. And what could possible block sunlight from reaching Earth's moon? That's right, our planet EARTH itself! A lunar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth and the Moon are all in a straight line, so that for a little over an hour, the moon is completely in the darkness of earth's shadow. It will not completely disappear - instead, it becomes a deep, deep orange color. It takes 3 to 4 hours to see the whole event from when the first shadow starts to creep across the moon's surface until it is fully obscured, and then the shadow gradually recedes, eventually leaving the full moon glowing in the sky again. Here are the times, if you decide to stay up (or go to bed and then get up in the middle of the night) to see it. Happy Winter Solstice, everyone!